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This study aims to identify the most critical concerns of property developers in terms of the transaction costs involved in compliance with environmental laws at the building scheme design stage when key design decisions are made.

Sixteen structured interviews were carried out with experienced industry practitioners in Hong Kong. Transaction cost theory is used to explain the regulatory compliance costs.

The results show that the most significant impacts of transaction costs were due to uncertainties in negotiations with government, which takes time to obtain approvals and overcome ambiguous legislative requirements.

The government could make use of the research findings to formulate a clear environmental policy to coordinate various departments and laws to address uncertainty with time for project delivery, and conduct quantitative regulatory impact assessments in the development of new legislation.

This study identifies and explaines “uncertainties” as the most critical concern for property developers in terms of the transaction costs involved in compliance with environmental laws. The results of this study would help policymakers to improve policy design, which would in turn increase efficiency and productivity in the property development process.

The purpose of this study is to detect focal issues in sustainability reports in two different Asian countries based on the operating sustainability reporting law and regulations and to explore possible changes in laws and regulations because of investment interactions between the two countries.

This paper provides a descriptive literature review on laws and regulations related to sustainability reporting in Japan and Indonesia followed by an interpretive approach in the analysis.

Laws and regulations in Japan can lead to focus on the environmental aspect of sustainability. Laws and regulations in Indonesia can lead to variations in all aspects of sustainability reporting. All types of institutional isomorphism are possible investment system pressures.

This paper redefines issues in sustainability reporting based on the reporting environment created by laws and regulations in Japan and Indonesia.

This study assists researchers and investment analysts in understanding inherent reporting issues because of laws and regulations in both countries, and it expands existing theory for voluntary and mandatory reporting interaction studies.

This paper aims to examine the extent to which environmental rights enforcement is currently practiced in Nigeria and the relevant characteristics for the development of a legal framework for the practice of environmental rights enforcement in Nigeria, particularly in the interest of the Niger Delta region of the country. The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is rich with abundant hydrocarbon resources and plays host to numerous multinational oil companies. For over five decades, oil spills and gas flaring from the operations of these companies have polluted water bodies and degraded farmlands on which the inhabitants depend for their livelihood. However, the absence of a legal regime of environmental rights has made it difficult for inhabitants of the region to seek legal remedy against these companies.

This paper examines the extent to which environmental rights enforcement is currently practiced in Nigeria and the relevant characteristics for the development of a legal framework for the practice of environmental rights enforcement in Nigeria, particularly in the interest of the Niger Delta region of the country.

Nigeria does not have constitutional environmental rights. The legal implication of this provision is that it is not justiciable as such no court of law can exercise jurisdiction to hear any matter that is connected with the provisions of that chapter. In other words, even the government’s “constitutional” responsibility to protect the environment cannot be judicially enforced, let alone environmental rights for victims of environmental damage.

The original and significant contribution of this paper is to highlight the real issues and address them through substantive and procedural environmental rights provisions either in the constitution or positive legislations.

This paper aims to present a discussion to stimulate interest in further research by highlighting aspects of Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights and exploring whether parts can be transplanted to improve sustainability in China.

In this paper, the authors trace the evolution of environmental law in China after 1978, identify increased citizen participation as a path to improvement and provide an overview of purposes and means in Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights which may be a model to consider.

Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights may have aspects to be added to China’s legal toolbox warranting further research.

While this descriptive review identifies possibilities, further work is required to apply legal concepts from one jurisdiction to another. Context and details of implementation warrant further attention.

This paper provides a platform from which further more detailed research may advance sustainability in China by considering a legal framework used by others to integrate the development of society, economy and environment.

This chapter presents a review about the history of how China’s environmental legal framework was built up.

The chapter explores environmental legal framework development through two paths: political path and the associated judicial path. It tries to connect the political slogans of China, under each leadership since the “Opening Up” in 1978, to the legislative development on environmental issues.

Regardless of each leadership’s political slogans, China’s economic reform and legislative development had always revolved around the objective – “revive China and its economy in the world,” which had been set by Deng Xiaoping. The “sustainable development,” that as a guiding principle, has already been incorporated into Five-Year Plans as well as China’s environmental legislation since economic reform.

Compared with previous research on this area, the pragmatical approach of this investigation confirms the originality of the research. Literature on this topic, in fact, hardly investigates China’s environmental issue by combining the analysis of the political and the legal perspectives.

The corporate veil or veil of incorporation is a legal concept that separates the legal and juristic personality of a company from its members, directors and other stakeholders. Indeed, common law has provided for numerous circumstances in which the corporate veil of a company may be lifted, and courts rely on these case law precedents to determine the grounds for lifting the corporate veil. However, there is limited case law regarding environmental torts as a ground for lifting the veil of incorporation and there is no legal provision in Mauritius which recognises environmental crimes as an exception to corporate veil. Consequently, this paper aims to discuss the liability of decision-makers of a company in the case of corporate environmental wrongdoings and thereafter, to present a case for amending Mauritius laws to give recognition to environmental torts as a ground of lifting the corporate veil.

This paper has adopted the black-letter approach and the comparative research methodology. The laws of Mauritius on corporate veil will be compared to the related laws of the USA and Canada with the view of seeking recommendations for Mauritius, as these countries are known to have an extensive legal framework on environmental crimes as a ground to lift the corporate veil.

It is concluded that it is high time for Mauritius to adopt a separate manslaughter law that would incorporate crimes committed to the environment by corporate bodies as a ground for lifting the corporate veil and thereby attacking individual stakeholders concerned.

This study is among the first researches conducted in the field of environmental torts as a ground for lifting the corporate veil in Mauritius.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explain and come to an understanding of origin and growth relating to the concept of environment and sustainable development in domestic and international laws; also to show the rationality of enlisting the right to the environment as a basic right in the constitution, that would help to protect this value from the detrimental activities of private entities and states, and also to show the rationality of institutional development.

This paper attempts to focus on environment and sustainable development in Bangladesh. The research is based upon theoretical sources and empirical data.

An environment is a set of natural, artificial or man‐made, physical, chemical and biological elements that make the existence, transformation and development of living organisms possible. The appearance of the environmental law arose from the need to conserve the environment in order to avoid its destruction and, as a result, the danger that an adequate quality of life might disappear. By conservation, we understand all those measures that are necessary to preserve the environment and natural resources. In modern times, human development corresponds to the concept of sustainable development and environment. It is a transverse theme derived from joint consideration of the issue of the environment and environmental protection, and of all that concerns production in the development of a country or nation.

The paper is original in calling for making the constitution a weapon, in as much as the environment should be fit for human development so that productive activities may meet present needs without compromising those of future generations. The environment is an independent value and needs as strict protection as other commonly agreed values, such as the right to property, or the right to life and health.

In the USA, unlike Germany, Japan, and many other nations, victims ordinarily play a very limited role in the prosecution of crimes. Indeed, victims have so little prosecutorial authority that a growing ‘victims' rights‘ movement calls for constitutional amendments to give victims more control over criminal trials. Yet American law features some important exceptions to this general rule — for many environmental and white‐collar crimes, private citizens can bring actions to enforce the law. What makes these actions unique is the absence of ‘standing’ requirements that oblige the plaintiff to demonstrate that he or she was directly harmed by the criminal's actions.

Examines the emergence of environmental legislation and the response of organizations. Most legal academics have attempted to explain these responses in the context of rational choice theory, using an economic framework such as the rational polluter model. Argues that whilst the rational polluter model offers a partial explanation of organizations’ behaviour in response to environmental legislation, it does not explain why the majority of organizations are law abiding. Examines work on legitimacy theory, and by drawing on that work and placing it in the context of case law, suggests that it offers a better explanatory framework.